


The Arc of Conflict, Saga 17: The Knight, the Squire, and the King in His Castle

by bzarcher, solarbird



Series: Of Gods and Monsters [112]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Diplomacy, Established Relationship, F/F, Family Drama, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Nepal (Overwatch), Oasis (Overwatch), Other, Politics, Post-Talon, Protectiveness, Talon Angela "Mercy" Ziegler, Talon Emily (Overwatch), Talon Lena "Tracer" Oxton, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:07:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25233625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bzarcher/pseuds/bzarcher, https://archiveofourown.org/users/solarbird/pseuds/solarbird
Summary: Katya Volskaya's government in Russia has destroyed the omnium Koschei, and held their own against the Gods of Oasis. But with Jesse McCree having upset a precarious balance, Lena, Hana, and Sombra have intervened in Russia's rising civil war. Now, what little stability Overwatch had managed to maintain seems on the verge of disintegration......Torbjörn is relieved that Reinhardt is leaving Nepal, and particularly relieved that he is taking Brigitte with him.Of Gods and Monsters: The Arc of Conflictis a continuance ofThe Arc of Ascension,The Arc of Creation, andThe Armourer and the Living Weapon. To follow the story as it appears,please subscribe to the series.
Relationships: Brigitte Lindholm & Torbjörn Lindholm, Emily/Lena "Tracer" Oxton/Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix, Moira O'Deorain/Angela "Mercy" Ziegler
Series: Of Gods and Monsters [112]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/972024
Comments: 29
Kudos: 34





	The Arc of Conflict, Saga 17: The Knight, the Squire, and the King in His Castle

**Author's Note:**

> STILL WEEKLY! *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧\\(◕▽◕)/*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
> 
> BUFFER WATCH: **August 1.** The buffer advances.
> 
> dirtyclaws has launched [a public fan-run _Of Gods and Monsters_ discord server](https://discord.gg/pDZMpVT) and invites everyone to come join it. ^_^

"So you're heading out too, then?"

Torbjörn jogged over to Reinhardt, who slowed his strides down the long main corridor of Overwatch Nepal, letting his friend catch up.

"Yes! We are heading out in the morning," Reinhardt replied, as the engineer jogged up beside him. "At first light, we fly. There is nothing for someone like me to do here, and even Jack admits it."

Torbjörn nodded. "It's true enough," he agreed amicably. "I'll miss having more of the old team around, though."

"Ach, I will not be so far gone as that! Brigitte and I will be keeping in touch, and we can always join up with you if we're actually needed. Besides, two more pairs of eyes out in the world never does any harm. Jack has asked for 'reports from the field,' and I will deliver them."

"You? A spy?" Torbjörn laughed. "Now that is comedy!"

Reinhardt returned the laugh. "What? Do you not think I can be stealthy? I am the very name of stealth, a name shouted from the rooftops of every elite spy agency in the world!"

He laughed, and leaned down, and close, and for once, actually was quiet. "But in all seriousness, my friend, do not worry - unlike some people, I have no secret plans."

Torbjörn frowned, and Reinhardt stood tall again. "It is simply that... I came back because I felt needed, and because I hoped I could again be of greater service. But I am not useful here after all, so I must go where I can be useful again."

"I'd halfway thought Jack would ask you to replace Jesse. At least, temporarily."

"He thought about it, but I knew better," Reinhardt chuckled. "Besides, the powers that be wanted one of their own." He did not sound bitter. If anything, he sounded a little relieved.

"Walk with me back to my workshop?" Torbjörn asked. "I had an idea for Brigitte's shield, a power booster. It would work with yours, too, and you may as well take them with you. They're a far enough along for a field test, so you may as well do something useful out there."

"Of course, my friend. Thank you!"

The two made their way to the next hallway, and turned left, then right, into the little workshop.

"Thank you for taking Brigitte," Torbjörn said, once the door had closed behind them. "I think it might be a good idea to get her away from all this - particularly until we know exactly what Jesse tried to pull."

Reinhardt pulled up one of the taller-looking laboratory stools and adjusted its height to maximum. It just about made it up to comfortable.

"I do not think this environment," he said cautiously as he sat down, "is good for her, and I think her being elsewhere will be better for everyone involved."

He reached over, grabbed the cup he kept on one particular shelf for this particular reason, poured in just a little bit of well-aged peach schnapps, savoured it for a moment, and swallowed.

"But even were that not the case, I have always been proud to have her by my side. You know that. She is a brave and resourceful squire - all one could ever ask, and more. I am honoured by her presence, and proud she agreed to come with me again."

"Having a trained medic along doesn't hurt anything either," Torbjörn ribbed, as he put the presentation binder he'd been carrying down on his main workbench, opened it, and pulled out the notes he'd made out for for sorting and transcription later. "Particularly not for you, at your age."

"I am as hale and hearty as any thirty year old!" Reinhardt protested, indignant. "Now you, on the other hand..."

"Hey, now, my ticker's as good as ever! Lindholms are durable - I've got another 40 or 50 years left in me, at least! Least, as long as I stay out of the sun."

Reinhardt chuckled as he put the cup back on its shelf. "I hope so, my friend. I hope so."

Done with the binder, Torbjörn walked over to a storage locker next to the southern-facing window, and took a moment to take in the changing view as the sun began to set. "I like it here, you know. I've always loved the mountains, and these are beautiful. I take photographs when I'm in the field, so I remember it all. But I miss Ingrid. I miss my family. I miss my home. And Brigitte, she's... well. You know."

"I do," Reinhardt agreed, "If you wanted to come with us, we would be more than happy to escort you back. You can work as well at your factories in Sweden as here, if not better."

"No," Torbjörn said, shaking his head. "Well, not yet, anyway. I've just about finished that new shielding project, and should be here for that. Then, maybe, I will go home. Also, I'm..."

He stopped, looked down, and smiled wistfully.

"I may be getting a little up there, but I can still be excited by a challenge, and proud of my work. Particularly if it's something to protect people, rather than cause harm. Even if half of them are... well. Omnics. "

He looked back up. "I think I picked that up from my daughter, the squire."

"Ha!" Reinhardt said. "You and Ingrid have raised many fine children, but I am not afraid to say that she is my favourite."

"I love all my kids," Torbjörn said. "But she's special. Which is part of why I've been working so hard on this. I'm glad it's ready enough to use."

He opened a metal door, and pulled a pair of small power enhancers from the bottom shelf.

"I'm not sure your old projector will handle the load this puts out, not as it is," he said, as he walked back over to Reinhardt. "But Brigitte will know what to do. All the specs are on the data chip... now where'd I put that... oh, right." He flipped the Reinhardt unit over, finding the envelope he'd taped there a few days before. "There y'go. Tell her to take a look at the numbers before she hooks it up, and she'll have no trouble making the adjustments to your gear." He snorted. "Not now that she's 'borrowed' enough of my supplies to overhaul your entire suit, at any rate."

That got another chuckle out of Reinhardt. "You're a good friend and a better father, Torb. Do you know that? You should be proud of yourself."

"I have too much making up to do for all I've done to be proud, old friend. So I do what I can and hope it's enough."

"It is," the knight errant assured him. "I swear it, on my honour as a knight."

"I hope a day will come when I can believe that." He took a deep breath, and let it out. "Well. If we're all done here, you've got packing to do, and I've got goodbyes to make with my daughter! See you in the mess hall later?"

"Of course! And if you're still able to wake up in the mornings, at our departure tomorrow."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

A reminder blerped, a small graphic appeared, and Torbjörn groaned a little. "One more meeting, and then I'm done for the day. If I forget to say it - good luck out there, Rein. Keep my daughter safe."

"She'll be the one keeping me safe, you old fool."

"I know, most of the time, but with Oasis..."

As he spoke, the voice of Commander Morrison's new executive officer broke out over base communications, interrupting him, her crisp Hatian accent crashing through their farewells.

"Action stations, action stations," she said. "This is not a drill. All Overwatch personnel to action stations. This is not a drill. Stand by for an all-hands address by Commander Morrison. Action Stations."

"Oh no," said Torbjörn, bringing up a keyboard and typing furiously. "What fresh hell is this?"

"I don't know," Reinhart said, standing quickly. "But I'm pretty sure we're about to find out. I will suit up, and..."

"No," Torbjörn interjected, thinking quickly, picking up the shield boosters, putting them back into Reinhardt's hands. "No. There's only one thing this could be and we both know what it is. You're going to take these, get your gear, get my daughter, and get her out of here. Right now."

"But I have a duty to...!"

"You have no such thing. I just checked. Your status was already changed and your flyer was prepped by the afternoon crew. Get her, and get out."

"But I..."

"Please, Reinhardt. You being a crazy old fool is one thing, you're just like me, and that's fine. But I won't have them have Brigitte. Not after all that Ana's said. Not after..." He shook his head. _I won't have another child of mine turn into some kind of world-conquering monster._ "I won't have it. Please. Find her, get to your flyer, and go."

"She will not like this," Reinhardt said. "I do not like this either."

"Would she like fighting her own girlfriend to the death any better? I don't think so! Get moving!"

That gave Reinhardt pause. "Do you mean... Hana is coming? That _they_ are coming?"

"I don't know, but you know what Jesse..."

The confused look on Reinhardt's face stopped Torbjörn cold.

"I thought, in the hallway... but you don't know? Jack didn't brief you?"

"No," Reinhardt shook his massive head back and forth. "What... what did Jesse do?"

"He did something stupid. Really stupid. Even for him. I won't say what, but we might all end up paying for it. Brigitte's been trying to talk to Hana for hours to find out how they're reacting in Oasis, and so far, she's just not answering. At all."

Reinhardt's shoulders slumped. "That's not normal, is it."

"No," Torbjörn agreed, "it's not. Hana always answers Brigitte's messages, any time, day or night. Until today."

"It sounds bad," Reinhardt admitted. "Very bad. But we don't know what it means. And when it comes to leaving - what about you? Shouldn't you come with us?"

"Like I said, I'm staying here. They'll need me to bring up the new shielding, give us a fighting chance if they're finally coming at us. If I'm wrong, it's a sustained power test, and there's no harm to it. But if I'm right, we're better off with you and her both far away from this base. So stop arguing with me, get my daughter, and go!"

Reinhardt hesitated, senses of duty warring within him. After a moment, he nodded uncertainly but moved to the door, and out, as the Action Stations call repeated over base comms.

Torbjörn grabbed his personal padd and paged his daughter. "Brigitte? This is your father. Are you there? Answer, please, daughter... oh thank goodness, there you are. Listen to me. Have you been able to reach Hana?"

He sighed at her answer.

"I didn't think so. Get Reinhardt out of here. You know what I think this alert means, and he's too old to listen to reason. No, you're both off the roster already, you have no action station to take anymore. Check it yourself."

He waited, as she did.

"There, see? Now get him out of here before he does something brave and stupid, and gets himself killed - or worse. It's Oasis, and if they're after someone, it's probably you."

Brigitte argued fiercely into her father's comms, and he winced a little at the volume.

"We don't know that and we _can't_ know that. But we do know what she said the last time you were together, and how she acted when she said it."

The arguing this time was decidedly less loud.

"I know, child. I know. But if I'm right, and she wants you, and they've decided to start taking people again, are you ready to fight her, tooth and nail? Because it'll come to that."

He gave her silence a moment to ripen before continuing.

"I didn't think so. And I can't blame you. But please, baby. Please. I'm begging you. If you won't do it for your own sake, do it for ours. If it's you they want, and you aren't here, we may not have to fight at all. So for the sake of all of us, please. Get Reinhardt, get your gear, and go."

"Yes, once you're somewhere secure, tell Lúcio, he'll need to know right away. Now stop wasting time talking to me, and get moving. I'll see you as soon as I can. Love you too. Go."

He cut the connection, and turned to the door, as Bastion toddled its way into the doorway, whistling confusedly, food for its pet bird in one manipulator.

"Hello, Bastion," Torbjörn said. "Put Ganymede somewhere safe, and c'mon with me."

Bastion _bweet_ ed curiously.

"Yeah, that's right. We have work to do."

\-----

> _[between blinks, three]_
> 
> In the future that had been, the gods were already there.
> 
> Sombra, more affected by Moira's death than she'd imagined she could be, watched as Reinhardt and Brigitte's flyer departed the hangar, took off, and disappeared into the evening sky. The moment it was out of range, she signalled, and the gods rained in, a scouring hail.
> 
> Not everyone died. Torbjörn and Bastion were taken away, to be improved, to be shown who they really were, who they would be now.
> 
> They'd wanted more Omnic gods, after all, and this would be as good a way to get one as any.
> 
> A couple of people in the intelligence group had been noticed as having real potential, and were kept, to be improved a little, and convinced of where their true loyalties really had lain all along. They would become excellent additions to Fareeha's Talons.
> 
> Jack Morrison ran out of his office, rifle ready, towards the loudest explosions, knowing there was little he could do, but determined to go down fighting. It was Angela who found him first, and stopped him.
> 
> "Hello, Jack," she said, bronze eyes bright, flashing, full of fury, contrasting so sharply against her voice so calm.
> 
> "Hiya," said Lena, voice suddenly behind him, voice not as calm, diction hard, her words snapped. "Jack."
> 
> A blue woman he knew of mostly as Oilliphéist appeared, as well, with a knife so sharp he couldn't feel it suddenly up against his neck.
> 
> "I didn't order it, Angela," he said, desperately, cutting himself a little against the dragon's blade. "No one did. It was just him. He..."
> 
> She stilled his voice, with less than a wave of her hand, and he struggled inside, held in place by his own musculature, watching, as she glided up to him, her expression blank, except for those terrible, terrible eyes.
> 
> "I know, Jack," she whispered, as the world dissolved in screaming. "But I don't care."

Jack Morrison's attention snapped into sharp focus as he stood in front of the large display in his office, the flag of the UN on one side, the flag of Overwatch at the other, as Overwatch Taipei scrambled into full readiness, just as Overwatch Nepal had done, minutes before.

"We'll be ready in about 90 seconds, Jack," Ana had said, from her own office. Of course. Yes.

"Thanks, Ana," he replied, shaking his head, wondering where his thoughts had gone. "Christ, I hope we're ready for this."

"We'll have to be," she said. "I've done my best here. If anything, to me? It's a relief. No more pretending."

He nodded, then glanced out the window, glad to see Brigitte and Reinhardt's flyer already small, flying into the sunset, already distant. He'd miss them both. But he'd surprised the elder Lindholm when he agreed with his tactical analysis - and his decision to send them both off, and away.

 _We've all been waiting for the other shoe to drop_ , he thought, going over his notes in his head one more time, _and now it finally has. And it's our side's fault. God damn you, Jesse. I trusted you, and you did this. God **damn** you._

Ana gave the signal that all division heads reported ready, and he gave his new XO a nod, the go-ahead to roll camera and audio.

"Attention, all Overwatch," he said, knowing he already had it. "At sixteen-hundred fifty hours Overwatch Nepal time, we received formal communication from the City of Oasis, and the Concordat, that one of our agents had attempted the assassination Minister Moira O'Deorain of Oasis, and her bodyguard" - he still wouldn't say 'daughter' - "Oasis Defense Force Captain Lena 'Tracer' Oxton while they were on official Concordat business in Deadlock, New Mexico, in the United States of America."

Behind him, the screen displayed images of Moira O'Deorain, Lena Oxton, and a map of Deadlock.

"Unfortunately, I must inform all of you that to the best of our ability to verify the information, it is in fact correct.

"This unauthorised action was taken without our knowledge or approval. A high-level Overwatch agent named Jesse McCree took it on his own initiative to act out a personal vendetta against Minister O'Deorain while on an intelligence-gathering assignment. He very nearly succeeded, but in the attempt, failed us all."

The screen brought up Jesse McCree's file picture, and identifying data, along with a red outlined REVOKED along the bottom.

"We have tended our apologies and acceptance of ultimate responsibility as an organisation, but our offers have thus far unfortunately been ignored.

"We do not know the status of our agent at this time, but have reason to believe he was killed in the attempted assassination. Regardless, all security clearances applicable to him are revoked as of this time, this day. We explicitly disavow his actions, even if we cannot undo them.

"We have however been informed that while Oasis will respect the sovereign territories of the Nepalese and Chinese governments, any Overwatch agents found in the operational zones of Oasis or Concordat forces will be considered hostile targets and treated accordingly. We are further informed that this includes all territories of the Russian Federation. All agents worldwide should consider themselves henceforth on the highest stage of operational alert pending further updates.

"Operational orders with detailed instructions on a per-division basis are being prepared now, and will arrive within the half hour. All section commanders are to be on full alert status and standing by to execute those orders as they arrive."

He took a deep breath.

"As of sixteen-hundred fifty-five hours Overwatch Nepal time this day, we are at war."

**Author's Note:**

> This is the forty-first instalment of _Of Gods and Monsters: The Arc of Conflict_. To follow the story, [subscribe to the series via this link](https://archiveofourown.org/series/972024), rather than to the individual works.


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